Jun 30 2007
INEOS Group today announced that it has agreed to set up a Joint Venture with LANXESS, the German chemicals and polymers group, through which it is to take over the operation of the LANXESS ABS plastics business, Lustran Polymers. On completion of the first stage INEOS will pay LANXESS €35m for a 51 percent majority share in a new business that is to be called INEOS ABS.
As part of the agreement INEOS will then acquire the remaining 49 percent share in the new company, two years after the first stage of the deal closes, for a price based on the performance of the business in the two year period.
“The joint venture provides INEOS with strong market positions in a new portfolio of products, that complement our styrenic, polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC plastics activities,” said Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS. “There is also a good fit with a number of our existing businesses and the JV will benefit from upstream integration into key raw materials.”
Lustran Polymers is currently the world’s third largest and Europe’s leading supplier of ABS plastics, with sales amounting to almost EUR 900 million. On completion of the agreement, assets in Dormagen (Germany); Tarragona (Spain); Map Ta Phut (Thailand); Vadodara (India); Addyston (USA) and around1600 employees are to transfer into the new company.
“The transfer of this business unit to the joint venture, headed by INEOS, is a key milestone in LANXESS’s realignment and offers both the Lustran Polymers business and its employees the best opportunities for further development,” said Chairman of the Board of LANXESS, Axel C. Heitmann.
The acquisition is being made by INEOS Group Limited and is conditional on approval from the relevant antitrust authorities. The transaction is expected to close at the end of September 2007.